Is it worth logging days when everything goes wrong?

It depends on if you're the type of person to try to make up for it the next day or just restart and try to do it right the next day.

if youre just going to reset then i wouldn't log it in. i think that once the number goes past a certain point, it looks all the same and the guilt felt is all the same.

I dont think seeing the number would really have a big psychological effect that would last either. Its kinda hard to make a connection to the number and the actual diet in reality. Like, once the food is in, its in and logging it wont really change that.

I just have to say that " I Love" that you typed that you did 2 lunges while carrying bacon to your computer!! lol ...... nothing like a good sense of humor!! lol, love it!! ............ to answer your question though, I usually don't log on days that I screw up and eat whatever I want but today for some reason I did, I think I wanted to see the actual damage today to see if maybe I could make up for it in exercise and not eating the calories a few days this coming week. With that said, I say, " do what ever makes you feel happy ". As long as you get back on the horse after you fall off then you'll be fine, that's what counts

The fact that you said days is kind of a red flag. If you are just starting out I think it's really important to weigh and log everything. It helps identify patterns too - maybe working out harder is causing more hunger, maybe a particular food, maybe stress and you need to find better alternatives.

Denial and avoidance is what got me in trouble in the first place so I log it.

I log it all too; And in the diary part I write the way I felt that day. You might start to see a pattern like if ur hormonal or sick or sleepy your diet habbits may be a certain way..The more you know about why you act in certain ways the better.
Tomorrow is a brand new day so dont beat yourself up over a bad day think how easy it will be to do a better job tomorrow

It has all pretty much been said in previous reply's, just will add honest logging=best logging.

i log it up to a certain point. There is a fail day and then there are hell days.... When i start going over in the hundreds, i still log. When i hit 1,000+, I start getting sloppy with my logging but I still try really hard while I negotiate with myself about ethics/honesty and such... When I hit somewhere in the 2,500+ then its gets really bad and I stop logging and just let it fade away.... its all the same after that.

But these overeating/binge days should not be common! And since they are so rare, you can let it go and reset the next day. Feeling guilty is natural but don't let it defeat you. Always remember that!!! If it is in the hundreds, you can always work it off the next day. But if it is too high, just rest. No reason to log sleep over what cannot be un-done.

Plus, I read somewhere that it takes about 3,500 calories to gain one pound so until you hit that number, its not a total loss

Hell yeah. Never give up! You can indulge while losing weight, if you make up for it. Or, forgive yourself and keep trying. Once we meet our goals, we have to maintain our weight for life. Don't worry about one day now. If you enjoy your weekend (like I surely did), no worries. Make up for it this coming week. This is a tool that will help you enjoy the rest of your life:

Look at your weekly calorie intake - not just daily. So - you ate 1,000 cal over your daily goal... Tomorrow you can start digging yourself out of that hole. Cut an extra 250 cal (or more) out tomorrow by skipping breakfast and do not over compensate for the hunger at lunch. Do that for 4 days, and you have balanced your indulgence. Cutting calories and losing weight is simple, but not easy. Dealing with hunger and urges to eat is very hard, but you can do it.

Keep in mind - 3,500 cal equals 1 lb of fat. If you cut 3,500 cal our this week (less than what your body needs), your body will extract the 3,500 cal of energy it needs from fat stores. If you eat 3,500 cal more than you need, your body will store about 1 lb of fat (that is can use for energy later).

So, your 1,000 cal indulgence has been stored to be used later. Use it this week by being better about food choices. If you log it, and at the end of the week you can look at your net calories and see a bunch of days that offset the "over" day, it will make you feel pretty good.

And don't worry much about "eating healthy". Eat what you want, but don't too much of it. Enjoy snacks, goodies, foods you love. But try to balance your calories overall and you can manipulate your weight. Eating some foods are better than others, but if you make food you love taboo, you'll feel like crap if you indulge in it, when you don't need to feel bad about it.

I log everything and have been pleasantly surprised on some occasions when I realize that, although I thought I had gone way over my calorie limit, I was still under the the number of calories I would need to maintain. I then adjust my calories a little for the next few days to 'make up' for the overindulging. When I go too crazy I can see what it is that sets me off on an eating binge and try to avoid those situations or at least deal with them better in the future. If I don't acknowledge my mistakes I will make them over and over.

I log everything, although I think I've only gone over by more than 500 calories one day (but I've only been doing this since August). If I log everything (and I do it before I eat the next meal or snack), it helps me to be realistic and to make adjustments for that day.

Also, I worry more about staying on target over the course of a week. If I go over by a couple of hundred calories one day, I can look back and see that I've maybe been under by a hundred or so on several days, so I'm still good for the week.

Finally, now that I've got a couple months of data, I calculate my real maintenance calories over previous 8 weeks (to allow for hormonal fluctuations) by adding up my net calories consumed over that period, plus 3500 calories for each pound lost, and dividing by 56 (days in 8 weeks) to get my average maintenance calories over that period (I know it's continually falling since I'm losing weight, so my current maintenance calories are probably a little lower than the number I get this way, but I still find it helpful to know my actual number, rather than the approximation that MFP and other calculators give -- not a criticism of the calculators, just a reality of any formula that tries to account for all kinds of variations) (plus, I selected sedentary when MFP calculated my calorie needs, because I have a desk job and I thought I was probably somewhere between sedentary and lightly active, but based on my real numbers, it seems that I'm between lightly active and moderately active before taking intentional exercise into account). Anyway, I wouldn't be able to do that if I just tossed data out the window by not logging my calories on days when I go over, especially if I go over by a lot.

I always log it, so I think about where I could have done better. And then move the heck on! Always try to learn from your mistakes

I find it helps me to admit to myself what I just ate or drank (beer, how you test me!) I tend to end up looking at weeks at a time to assist how I picture how I am going rather than day by day. Yes, track day by day, but make it longer term that you think about things. The first step is admitting what you are doing to yourself though I think. How can we change if we don't admit that there are things that need changing and measuring whether they are chaning? When I first started I probably used to binge weekly one day, that reduced over time both in calcories consummed and frequency, but I wouldb't know that if I didn't log it. Your diary is for you. Good luck my dear.

If it's a special occasion and I'm making the decision not to log, I don't. Otherwise, I log everything.

For me I log everything now. In fact you can see my diary - check this weekend out. I realized in a moment of clarity that if I have a deficit of 200 calories per day and am "Green" for 25 days. The five days that I am 'not green" can easily wipe out my gains for the month.

For example:

25 Days @ 200 deficit = 5000 Green Calories "in the bank"

5 Days @1000 Surplus = 5000 Red Calories - "All funds withdrawn"

--- I am not proud.. .but for October I am totally "In The Red" right now. I have finally opened my eyes and I log everything!

However.. I am not sad or mad about any of this.. I have had several running and stairmaster NSVs this month and that is what counts to me!